Delve into the secrets of the fidget spinner craze, with eZones’ new augmented reality game for iOS and Android that asks “…Could spinners actually be ancient?” Using your phone’s camera Fidget Spinner: Journey of the Secrets combines the real world with fantastically designed 3D spinners, plus there’s a virtual reality mode for those with Google cardboard. All for free!

This is simply the best fidget spinner simulator available. These spinners are just like the real thing with eye-popping 3D visuals and lighting, real sounds sampled from actual fidget spinners, and accurate real-time physics. Touch and turn, swipe them, or rapid tap the center to reach maximum spin speed.

‘Journey of Secrets’ is not just a simulator, it’s also an idle/clicker game. Each spinner within the game has a target number of spins: reach it to unlock the next. As you unlock each spinner more clues will be revealed to help you discover the true purpose of these intriguing devices. Do you have what it takes to discover all their secrets?

It’s sale season in the world of PC games in the form of the Steam Sale, so it’s a great time to get your hands on some discounted games made by West Australian developers. If you have been looking for something new to play, now is definitely the time because from July 1st all Steam purchases from Australia will have an additional 10% GST on it!

So here is a list of games on sale right now, all of which have been contributed to by local developers:

Delve into the world of virtual reality, and find out what it takes to create and release VR content thanks to AVRN. Meet local developers from Stirfire Studios as they talk about their experience creating a VR game, after which you can try out the PlayStation VRs and an Oculus Rift with Touch controllers yourself!

Stirfire Studios will describe how they created one of the first Australian games produced for Sony’s PlayStation VR (PS VR). ‘Symphony of the Machine’ is a virtual reality puzzle game that allows players to regrow a destroyed landscape. Matt Dyet and Brendan Ragan will take you from the original prototype at the 2016 Global Game Jam through to global release on the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and PS VR.

For more information, visit the AVRL event page. You can also check out the video trailer for Symphony of the Machine below, to get an idea of the game Stirfire Studios created before you hear their presentation.

Let’s Make Games has teamed up with Epic Games to bring two free workshops on Unreal Engine to you! Hosted by SAE Institute Perth, these events are designed to introduce you to using Unreal, as well as run through how you can get started creating virtual reality experiences with it. No laptop necessary– just come along, take some notes and hang out with excellent industry folk.

This introductory tutorial assumes participants have rudimentary 3D game development expertise, but no prior experience with UE4. You will learn the basics of creating a game from starter content using the UE4 Blueprint visual scripting system. Blueprints are easily leveraged by all game development disciplines, so artists, designers, and programmers are welcome.

You will learn the basics of creating a VR project from starter content using the UE4 Blueprint visual scripting system. Blueprints are easily leveraged by all game development disciplines, so artists, designers, and programmers are welcome. Topics we’ll cover include: project setup, VR peripheral setup, building materials for VR, VR character setup, using the slice tool and configuring UI for VR projects. We will also cover design principles and VR performance optimization techniques.